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Certain widgets can only be added to certain zones.

"Why," you ask? Because we want profile pages to have freedom of customization, but also to have some consistency. This way, when anyone visits a deviant, they know they can always find the art in the top left, and personal info in the top right.

Random from Digital Art I Love

"The digital camera is a great invention because it allows us to reminisce. Instantly."

- Dimitri Martin

EPIC Core Rulebook

This is my unique take on tabletop roleplaying! This is a character-driven epic roleplaying system, written in just 24 hours!Since it's a 24-hour RPG, you can expect the rulebook to be short. And this one is short, but delivers a excellent game!

The Sleeper Race

"Why do you think someone would purposefully hurt themselves by taking anything addictive," she asked."

This story presents a vision of a possible future. This story is designed as a warning to all that addiction doesn't always need to be a controlled substance or an addictive drug. Addiction comes in many forms and sinister disguises, and in almost all cases addictions do not have happy endings, since you must always give up something to support the addiction.

This story presents addiction that many do not recognize; addiction to technology, computers, and the internet. I may have a mild form of this addiction... I initially wrote this story with pencil and paper during a point when my computer was broken, and I had no access to the internet. And I went through withdrawal during that time!

IntroAdvanced critique is as much an art as your deviations are art. It takes skill and the careful sculpting of ideas to make a comment into a helpful, discerning, judging piece of advice that will aid the deviant to create better art.

In recent years, advanced critiques have gotten a bad name and there are only a few left who understand or know how to write a good critique. And there are many who shy away from writing critiques for fear that they will be accused of flaming.

This goal of this guide is to train you on how to write a critique.

Step 1... check to see whether the deviant has requested an advanced critique. Just because someone is on DA does not mean that they want to be critiqued.

What a Critique is NOT1. Critiques are not something that can be rushed. You must take time when writing them, or they will come out haphazard and of no benefit at all.2. Critiques are not written ENTIRELY IN CAPS. Since the age of IM and chatrooms, using caps has been held synonymously with shouting. Caps may be a way to get someone's attention, but caps do not hold attention, especially if used continuously.3. Critiques are not written in chatspeak or leetspeak. An example of a bad critique would be: OMG!!!!111 FYI, I <3 ur art! C I BTDT, and u r0x0rz imho!4. Critiques do not use emoticons solely to express feeling as these do not explain why the deviation is desirable or undesirable.5. A critique is not a summary. A summary reports what the deviation is about. A critique, on the other hand, analyzes, interprets, and evaluates the deviation, and searches with the goal of answering the questions why? what? and how well?6. Critiques are not just limited to positive words. Critiques are a synthesis of positive and negative points.7. Although they may run contrary to the thousands of other comments you get, critiques are not a form of flaming. Flaming is destructive; critiques are designed for the improvement of art.8. Critiques will not always be agreed upon by everyone. Art is very much a matter of taste and not everybody likes everything.

What Is Advanced Critique?Merriam-Webster defines critique as the act of criticizing. The definition of criticize is: to consider the merits and demerits of and judge accordingly. Synonym: Evaluate. To evaluate is to determine the significance, worth, or condition of something usually by careful appraisal and study

Thus the goal of an advanced critique is to determine the significance and artistic merit of a deviation through careful appraisal and study of its merits and demerits.

Guide To Advanced CritiqueTake out a piece of scratch paper, or open a writing program so you can assemble a few notes on the deviation you are going to critique. Don't write the critique directly on the deviation yet; let's assemble our thoughts before we type the critique on the deviation.If the deviation you are critiquing is a collage, you should repeat this guide over for each image in the collage, and then once for the collage as a whole.

First, consider the deviation in an unspecific general manner. Jot down a few notes for yourself on things you liked or didn't like about it.

Next, consider the tools the artist used to make the deviation. While it's easy to determine whether a deviation is pleasing to the eye or not, to write a critique both the artist and the critiquer must be familiar with the tools used in the design of the deviation.As examples, to critique a photograph both must understand the use of a camera and terms like shutter release, depth of field, rule of thirds, aperture, autofocus, exposure compensation, etc.But for a photomanipulation critique, both would need to understand the various tools in whatever program was used to create the image, and addition terms like aspect ratio, layers, blending, CMYK, RGB, pixel, etc.For a poetry critique, consideration would need to be given to definitions of words and syllable count. Terms like enjambment, anapestic, iambic tetrameter, elision, quatrain, and meter might be used.Remember that similar tools are not the same. As an example, both GIMP and Photoshop can be used to manipulate photographs and can produce the same results. But although the end result is similar, the tools are different, and different steps are used for different tools

Ask yourself1. What tools were used to create this?2. Am I familiar with the tools enough to offer specific suggestions on their use?

If you are not familiar with the tools, perhaps you should leave the advanced critique with specific advice to someone who is. This does not mean you can't comment; you can comment on what you liked about the deviation or didn't like.But specific advice requires specific knowledge. Don't be afraid to admit to yourself that you need to learn more. But, conversely, don't be afraid to use what you have learned in writing a critique.If you have any comments to write on the skillful use of tools in the deviation, or suggestions on how to use the tools better, jot them down on your paper.

Now, let's consider perspective. Some deviations will only speak loudest to certain people; sometimes no one will understand the true nature of the deviations except the artist who posted it. I've noticed this especially with literature deviations, since language is so mutable and flexible a tool.

Next, consider your perspective first.1. What emotions and feelings well up when you look at a certain deviation?2. Why do you feel those particular emotions?Write down your perspective, and the emotions you felt on your paper, and the reasons why you feel them.

Next, consider the perspective from the deviant's viewpoint.1. What might they have been thinking and feeling at the time? It sometimes helps to read the artist's comments at this time as this can occasionally enlighten this question.2. Get to know the artist. Check some of the other deviations in their gallery to see if you can isolate the common theme that this artist focuses on. Do any other deviations this artist has shed light on the feelings in the deviation you are critiquing?3. Do the emotions and feelings that I felt match those of the deviant? Or are they different? In this way you can determine whether you are able to relate to the deviation.Write down your thoughts on the perspective in the deviation.

Next, let's look for positives. Write down on your paper as many elements of the deviation that you feel are good and enhance the deviation quality for you. Put a specific explanation next to the element as to why you liked it.

Next, look for a few negatives. Write down a few elements of the deviation that you feel could use improvement. and include specific explanations that cover the following questions:1. WHAT can be improved2. WHY you didn't like it.3. Suggestions on HOW to improve that element4. Only aim for a few areas in this. It's easier to be negative than positive, but an advanced critique does not concentrate solely on the weak points, but tempers constructive criticism with acknowledgment of deviation's good features. If you have more negative than positive notes written down, consider organizing the negatives by their severity (what you feel needs the most attention) and cross out the low-ranking problems.

Writing the Advanced CritiqueNow, it's time to organize your notes and get around to writing the advanced critique.Some tips to follow when doing this:1. Organize your thoughts so that when speaking about a particular element you cover all the things you have written about that element.2. Try to give your critique a introduction, middle, and closing. The introduction can be a summary statement or paragraph and this summary can be repeated at the end as the closing statement. The middle should be where the comments on your in-depth appraisal and study of the deviation are. The ending should provide a polite summary of your thoughts with a closing statement so that the critique is wrapped up and complete.3. Use complete sentences, punctuation, and good grammar.4. Don't group all of your negative points together, but space them out throughout the critique and place positive points and comments in between.5. If you are granted the opportunity to critique a deviation not normally marked for Advanced Critique, be sure to thank the artist for letting you critique it in the comment.

An Example of a CritiqueSo after contacting *Cefin via notes, I asked for permission to critique his amazing collage Nature's Elements. Although the collage was not marked for Advanced Critique, he granted my request to critique his work.I spent about 30 minutes working on the critique.Here are my initial notes I made:

Notice how I complete the tutorial four times for each individual picture, then once for the total collage.Nature's Earth is breathtaking!My Emotions:expectance - can see both of her eyes, not covered up by hair or angle of cameraanticipation - eyes are wide open, not half-closedDeviation Emotions: anticipationPositives: leaf texture on cheek - wish more textures?hair - nice highlights on individual strands, looks like real colorNegatives: none

Nature's WaterMy Emotions: sadness - eye of right of picture has a light colored portion near the lower eyebrow that looks like tear.Deviation Emotions: something lost? - object looked at in eyeball is black this time, combine with pseudo-tear critPositives: hair againNegatives: none

Nature's WindMy Emotions: depression - eye not looking at camera, almost complete whiteout of eye. Looks like real tear in eye closest to camera.insecurity due to unknowns - whiteout eyePositive: saturation and bleaching of picture. Nice grayscaleNegative: Dotted lines. Not sure if wind can be captured in texture, maybe cloud pictures?

Then I take my notes and write a critique based on those notes.Here's what I eventually decided to write.Thanks for permitting me the opportunity to write this critique.

Your girlfriend has some amazing eyes, no matter what color they are. I found it amazing that despite it being the same face and the same eyes, each picture had its own unique feeling and emotion. "Breathtaking" would be the one word I would use to describe each picture. I took the time to look at each individual picture in the series in order to write the critique. Let me tell you what I thought about each individual picture. I'll start at the top of the collage.

Nature's Earth is beautiful. The leaf texture used under her eyes is well placed and well manip'ed. It looks like it belongs there. I wish there could have been a few extra textures, but simplicity is usually the best, so this one texture was an excellent choice! Also her hair is excellent in this picture. It looks like real coloring; each strand not colored to a single color, but possessing a shade of the color, just like it would look with real hair coloring.The emotions I felt from looking at this picture were expectance and anticipation. I felt that because her eyes were wide-open (not half-closed) and they weren't covered up by hair or by the angle of the camera.

Nature's Fire possesses almost a sense of irony. Her eyes are looking up, almost as if she was caught halfway through an eyeroll. However, it also has a similar feeling of advancement that Nature's Earth has, perhaps more so, since the distant window framed in her eye is something that would have to be climbed to be reached. Her hair is once again stunningly shaded and perfect for the composition of this picture. The only thing I found that was negative in this picture was the line art on her cheek under her eye. I almost feel that it detracts from the fire, and that an actual texture might have worked better.

Nature's Water has a sad feel to it. The eye on the right side of the image has a light colored portion near the lower eyebrow that looks like a tear, but it's unclear from this image whether it's a tear of joy or sadness. The emotions I felt tended towards sadness due to something being lost. I think I felt this way because the object framed in her eyeball is black this time, and combined with pseudo-tear in her eye made me think of losing something. Like the previous pictures the positive attribute that stands out is her hair. It is once again stunningly shaded, and perfect for the composition of this image.

Nature's Wind has a definite sad feel to it, almost bordering depression perhaps. Her eyes appear to be deliberately avoiding the camera in this picture. There appears to be some moisture in the eye on the left (another tear perhaps?). The grayscale combined with the near whiteout of the eyes stumped me momentarily as I tried to figure out the feeling being expressed here. I looked at the near whiteout of her eyes and thought that they looked sad, and possibly insecure, as if she was looking to the future but was unsure what was coming. The positive attribute in this picture would be fine bleaching, saturation, and the subtle use of grayscaled tones. It's a very nice white/gray picture to depict wind, without being so white that nothing can be seen. The only negative I saw in this was the use of dotted lines again. I would recommend the use of a texture, but I'm not entirely sure how one would go about depicting wind as a texture (perhaps pictures of clouds?).

All in all, this collage is breathtaking! Each picture works so effectively with all the other pieces to display a wide range of complex emotions and feelings. There were so many beautiful things about these pictures, I wouldn't have time to type the critique if I were to mention them all. Her shading on her hair was definitely a positive throughout all four pictures. The only negatives would be the occasional use of dotted lineart to express an element, as was done in Nature's Fire, and Nature's Wind. Other than that, I could see nothing in these manips I would suggest improving. Your girlfriend has beautiful eyes, no matter what color they are.

ConclusionCan you see how I followed the steps listed in the tutorial of writing critiques in both my initial notes and later in the placement of thoughts in the written critique?Now it's your turn! Do you think you can do it too?

I hope this tutorial, and the sample critique will aid you to writing many effective critiques that will aid other deviants to hone and refine their abilities in the future.

I'd like to spread this idea around a little. Let's start critiquing artwork together.I think that Collections is a really awesome feature, and I use that feature a lot, but from what I've heard around from a lot of other people, a favourite without a comment means absolutely nothing.

I'd like to start giving back to the community by using another feature which has been around for a while. The Critique feature. Good critiques are valuable! Favorites are nice, comments are good, but honest well thought out critiques are great.

If you need help in writing a critique, the featured tutorial above offers practical guidelines on where to start and how to complete an advanced critique. This tutorial has been translated into French as well, and the French version can be found here.

To find things that you can critique check out the "Critiqueable" gallery.

-Eleonora Duse

Suggest Some Good Art To Me!!

I prefer that the fandom being cosplayed is a clearly known series (Kill La Kill, Hatsune Miku, etc), or easily inferred from style of dress (steampunk, Victorian, etc)

I prefer vividness is photography and costume. Suggest something that will blow my socks off!

SPACE SUGGESTION GUIDELINES

This must be original work! I will not accept rips from ISS Space Station camera, no matter how good it looks.

As long as it involves something space-related, I'm happy to accept it. This includes tutorials, comic strips, Terraspace digital artwork, etc.

SCIENCE FICTION SUGGESTION GUIDELINES

Science Fiction may be based on the real world, but it should be removed enough from current reality that the fictional component is easily seen.

Since Science Fiction can cover so much material, I would appreciate an explanation of why the deviation appealed to you so much in your suggestion note. Help me see the image through your eyes!

I prefer vividness in the subject matter and medium. Suggest something that will blow my socks off!

HOW TO SUGGEST

Send me a note with a thumb or link to the deviation you're suggesting. Please title your note: "SeniorSelections Suggestion" or something to that effect.

Please only send your suggestion to ONE person on the SeniorSelections team. One thumb or link per note, please. It helps me stay organized. I will respond to all suggestions as soon as I have time to read them. If you do not hear from me within a couple weeks, please feel free to send me a poke. You can include a blurb about why you feel a piece deserves to be featured, but it is not necessary. Truly good artwork speaks for itself.

Donate

All points donated are used in contests and to make other deviants really happy!

25 - 99 Points = I'll spam some of your artwork in a journal!

100-300 Points = There will definitely be llamas, with llama add-ons (sunglasses and bowtie), likely some cake, and possibly a

301+ points = You suggest the contest, and I'll host it with your donation split up into suitable 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes. Note: It must be subject matter I am familiar with, am willing to spam in my journal, and can judge fairly.

deviantID

LLAMA'S ARE ALWAYS RETURNED!! Just give me a llama, and you'll get one back. Llama for llama!

Hi, I'm archaeobibliologist! I am normal person with opinions and feelings, just like everyone else. More specifically, I am an INTJ, with an IQ over 200. As an introvert, I'm very awkward socially, but I do my best to smile at all times, and I have an infectious laugh when amused.

I am addicted to coffee and hot chocolate. I hate weak coffee!

I'm a professional photographer. I shoot engagements, weddings, nature, fashion, models... I am accepting photography commissions. If you would like to retain me, please send me an email at advancedphotosolutions@gmail.com

I'm a book nerd and a computer nerd! I give wannabe nerds an inferiority complex. It's not unusual to find me reading 5-6 books at the same time. And when I'm not reading, I usually doing some computer programming or shell scripting.

I have a blog (generally about computing and other nerd-interests) on Tumblr at Proxy Glider.

I feel I'm better at writing stories than poetry, but sometimes I can't think of the words to say to write longer, so then I write verses. I like vividness of subject in both pictures and literature. I enjoy writing parodies on existing songs and poems.

I'm very eclectic in television and movies. Mostly anime, science fiction, and fantasy, but occasionally I do something from another genre.

I was a MN@ for about a year and a half and I enjoyed every minute of it! Volunteering for deviantART is a wonderful experience and I encourage everyone to try it.

I only take critiques well when it's coming from someone who wants to help me improve. I don't respect criticism from people who give decide that an art critique can also include comments about my parenting, or other similar incendiary subjects. I don't mind getting a negative critique; but when you critique me please do it to help me improve. Don't just bash me...

I am fiercely loyal to all of my friends, and I always stand up for my friends and what I believe in. If someone does or says something that I feel is wrong, I'll respond and, I can be a fierce fighter when I'm needed to be.

I love helping people unreservedly. If you ever need any help, just send me a note and I'll be glad to assist you as far as possible.

I figure I'll never be remembered for doing anything impressively special in life, but I hope to be remembered for all the small things I've helped in.